The Daejang-dong Blaze Spreading to Wirye... The Investment Company Has Already Closed Down

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] As the investigation into Daejang-dong in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province expands to include the Wirye New Town development project, there are signs that related corporations are erasing traces. With key figures in Daejang-dong cutting off contact or destroying evidence to evade investigation, there are calls for swift action by investigative agencies.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the National Tax Service on the 7th, ‘Wirye Partner Samho’ decided to dissolve according to the corporate registry at the end of October 2019. The business closure date was at the end of December last year. Established in November 2013 with a capital of 10 million KRW, Wirye Partner Samho was a corporation that participated as an investor in the Wirye New Town development.

The Wirye New Town development project was carried out by the ‘Pureun Wirye Project’ at the end of 2013, supplying 1,137 apartment units on 64,713㎡. Pureun Wirye Project is a PFV (Project Finance Vehicle), a special purpose company similar to ‘Seongnam Utddeul’ in the Daejang-dong development.

The Wirye New Town development project was structured as a public-private partnership similar to the Daejang-dong development. The shareholders of Pureun Wirye Project consist of Seongnam Urban Corporation (5%), Wirye Asset Management (13.5%), and financial institutions (81.5%). Here, Wirye Asset Management acted as an Asset Management Company (AMC), playing a role similar to Daejang-dong’s ‘Hwacheon Daeyu.’

Among the financial institutions’ shares, some were invested in the form of specific money trusts. Wirye Investment No.1, Wirye Investment No.2, Wirye Partner Samho, and H Wirye PM are mentioned as investors. These corporations were created for the purpose of earning dividend income, similar to Daejang-dong’s ‘Cheonhwa Dongin Nos. 1 to 7.’ In fact, these corporations are registered at the same address as Wirye Asset Management. Hwacheon Daeyu and Cheonhwa Dongin also shared the same address.

Regarding individuals, Wirye New Town investors have close ties with Hwacheon Daeyu and Cheonhwa Dongin. Jung Mo, the wife of lawyer Nam Wook, the representative of Cheonhwa Dongin No.4, served as an inside director of Wirye Asset Management, Wirye Investment No.2, and H Wirye PM. Kim Mo, known as the wife of accountant Jung Younghak, is an inside director of Wirye Investment No.1, Wirye Investment No.2, and H Wirye PM.

Also, the major shareholder of Wirye Asset Management is known to be Jung Jae-chang. Jung is suspected of having given a bribe of 300 million KRW to Yoo Dong-gyu, former acting president of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, who was arrested on charges of receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions in the Daejang-dong development project. In exchange for concealing his bribe giving, Jung demanded 15 billion KRW from lawyer Nam and accountant Jung, reportedly having already received 12 billion KRW. Furthermore, Jung is currently in hiding.

Meanwhile, it appears that they earned about 15.5 billion KRW from the Wirye New Town development. At that time, the Pureun Wirye Project distributed a total of 30.6 billion KRW to investors. Of this, Seongnam Urban Corporation took 15.075 billion KRW, and the remaining 15.525 billion KRW went to general investors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.